In high style in slopestyle: Gerard rallies for 1st U.S. gold
Teenager Red Gerard won the United States’ first gold medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics, edging Canadians Max Parrot and Mark McMorris in men’s slopestyle snowboarding Sunday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Gerard, 17, of Silverthorne, Colo., drilled his third and final run on the chilly but sun-splashed course at Phoenix Snow Park. Gerard was in last place heading into the final run, but his score of 87.16 was just enough to slip by Parrot.
Parrot washed out in his first two runs but nailed his final trip through the tricky series of rails and jumps to post a score of 86.00. McMorris took third after putting up a score of 85.20 in his second run.
Gerard is the second consecutive American to win the event, which made its Olympic debut four years ago.
Organizers said they would try to hold the event Thursday. The men’s super-G had been scheduled for Thursday but was pushed back a day to let the downhill run first.
Marit Bjoergen took silver but made Olympic history by becoming the most decorated female Winter Olympian ever. The Norwegian won her 11th career medal to break a tie with Raisa Smetanina of Russia and Stefania Belmondo of Italy.
Jessica Diggins of Minnesota placed fifth, missing a chance to become the first American woman to earn a medal in cross-country skiing. Diggins was third in the World Cup standings coming into the race.
Bjoergen, 37, raised her arms as she crossed the finish line, knowing she had reached the career milestone.
“I have been very good for many years,” Bjoergen said. “But I’m also getting older, and the younger girls are getting better.”
Lim pushed past Sjinkie Knegt of the Netherlands, finishing in an Olympic-record time of 2 minutes, 10.485 seconds.
Knegt won silver while bronze went to Semen Elistratov, who was the first Russian medalist of the Games.
The 24-year-old German fought bitterly cold conditions and hit all 10 targets to win her first biathlon gold medal in the women’s 7.5-kilometer sprint.
Dahlmeier had won five of six possible medals at last year’s world championships. Coincidentally, the one event she didn’t win was this one.
Marte Olsbu of Norway won silver and Veronika Vitkova of the Czech Republic earned bronze.